Lettuce is a reliable simple crop to grow and enjoy throughout the growing season. Almost all of our gardeners this season have planted lettuce varieties! It grows fast, doesn’t require much space, and makes a perfect fresh salad base for the summer!
Lettuce Fun Facts
- It is one of the easiest things to grow and make a great plant for beginner gardeners.
- Lettuce is mostly water, around 95% making it a super hydrating vegetable.
- There are two kinds of lettuce:
- Leaf lettuce grow in loose leafy bunches that you can harvest by picking a few leaves at a time.
- Head lettuce like romaine grow more compact in shape, tends to be crispier and is usually harvested all at once.
- Lettuce doesn’t like the heat, and can go to seed quickly tasting bitter.
- Most types are ready to eat in about 30 days.
- Some lettuces can be harvested “cut and come again,” meaning you harvest outer leaves and let the rest keep growing.
Growing Tips
- Lettuce prefers cool weather – try to plant it early in the spring or again at the end of summer for a fall crop. It can tolerate partial sun or some shade.
- Sprinkle and rake about a pinch of seeds into the soil across a square foot – roughly 16 lettuces in a square foot for leaf lettuce. For head lettuce, thin your plants to about between 2 – 4 per square foot.
- You can sow lettuce underneath taller crops like tomatoes — the shade helps prevent bolting and allows you to make the most of your growing space.
- Water your seeds gently (ideally on mist) as they are really small and avoid soaking the soil so the seeds don’t move. Lettuce has shallow roots, so it prefers frequent, light watering.
- Plant a new round every 2–3 weeks to keep the harvest going throughout the season.
- If your lettuce starts growing tall and sends up a flower stalk, it’s bolting! Harvest what you can and re-seed a new round.
Fresh Garden Lettuce Salad
- A generous handful of lettuce leaves from your garden, chopped
- Optional: herbs, chopped cucumbers, fresh beans or peas, sliced radishes
- Dressing: juice of ½ lemon, 1 clove garlic (grated), 2 tbsp olive oil, pinch of salt and pepper
Feel free to add any other veggies you like. Whisk together the dressing. Toss it all together and enjoy!
This post is part of our Feature Crop of the Month series, where we share what’s growing and how to make the most of it.